Roberto de Mattei: "The Synod of Adultery: the Church has been here before”

St. Theodore the Studite, and the “Synod of Adultery”

Roberto de
Mattei

Corrispondenza
Romana

26th August 2015

“The Synod of Adultery” an assembly of Bishops
in the 9th century, made history when they wanted to approve the praxis of a second marriage after the repudiation of a
legitimate wife. St. Theodore the
Studite, (759-826) was the one who opposed it the most vigorously and for this was
persecuted, imprisoned and exiled three times.

It
all started in January 795, when the Roman Emperor of the East (Basileus) Constantine VI (771-797) had his wife Maria of Armenia
locked up in a monastery and began an illicit union with Theodora, the
lady-in-waiting to his mother, Irene. A
few months later the Emperor had her proclaimed “Augusta” Theodora, but being unable to convince the
Patriarch Tarasios (730-806) to celebrate the new wedding, he finally found a
minister willing to do so in the priest Joseph, hegumen (head) of the
Monastery of Kathara on the Island of Ithaca, who officially blessed the
adulterous union.

St.
Theodore, born in Constantinople in 759, was at that time a monk in the
Monastery of Saccudium in Bithynia, where his uncle Plato was the Abbot. He was also venerated as a saint. Theodore
reports that the unjust divorce produced great perturbation in the entire
Christian population: concussus est mundus (Epist. II.n. 181,
in pg. 99, coll. 1559-1560CD), and along with St. Plato protested
energetically, in the name of the indissolubility of the marriage-bond. He wrote: “the Emperor must consider himself
an adulterer and consequently, the priest, JosephJoseph, must consider himself
guilty for having blessed the adulterers and for having admitted them to the
Eucharist”. By “crowning adultery, the
priest, JosephJoseph, is in opposition to the teachings of Christ and has violated
the law of God” (Epist. I. 32, pg. 99, coll. 1015/1061C). For Theodore, the Patriarch Tarasios had
likewise to be condemned, since, even if not approving the new marriage, he showed
himself tolerant of it, thus avoiding the Emperor’s excommunication and the
priest Joseph’s punishment.

This
behavior was typical of a sector in the Oriental Church, which proclaimed the
indissolubility of marriage, but in practice, showed a certain submission to
the imperial powers, thus, sowing confusion among the peoples and stirring up
protest from the most fervent Catholics.

Basing
himself on the authority of St. Basil, Theodore claimed the faculty conceded to
subjects, of denouncing the errors of their superiors (Epist. I,n.5,PG,
99,coll.923-924,925-926D) and the monks of Saccudium broke communion with the
Patriarch because of his complicity in the Emperor’s divorce. This triggered off
the so-called “moicheiana question” (from
moicheia = adultery) which placed Theodore in conflict, not only with the
imperial government, but with the Patriarchs of Constantinople themselves.

It
is not a very well-known story, but some years ago, Professor Dante Gemmiti disclosed
it through a careful, historical
reconstruction based on the Greek and Latin sources (Theodore Studite, and the Moicheian Question, LER Marigliano. 1993) which confirm that ecclesiastical
discipline of the Oriental Church in the first millennium, still respected the
principal of the indissolubility of
marriage.

In
September 796, Plato and Theodore, along with a certain number of monks, were
arrested, imprisoned, then exiled to Thessalonica, where they arrived on the 25th
March 797. In Constantinople, however,
the population judged Constantine a sinner who continued to give public scandal
and following the example of Theodore and Plato, the opposition increased day
after day. Their exile was brief, as the young Constantine, following a palace
conspiracy, had been blinded by his mother who had taken upon herself the
governing of the Empire. Irene called
back the exiles who moved to the urban Monastery of Studios along with most of
the community of monks from Saccudium. Theodore and Plato were reconciled with
the Patriarch Tarasios, who, after Irene’s accession to power, had Constantine
and hegumen JosephJoseph publicly condemned for the imperial divorce.

Also
Irene’s reign was brief. On the 31st October 802, her minister,
Nikephoros, following a palace revolt, proclaimed himself Emperor. When Tarasios died shortly afterwards, the new
basileus had a high-ranked imperial
functionary elected Patriarch of Constantinople , who was also called
Nikephoros (758-829). In a Synod convoked and presided by him, about the middle
of the year 806, he reintegrated hegumen Joseph (deposed by Tarasios) to
his office. Theodore who was then head of the monastic community in Studios -
since Plato had retired to the life of a recluse - strongly protested the
rehabilitation of hegumen Joseph and when the latter took up his
sacerdotal ministry again, he broke communion also with the new Patriarch.

The
reaction was not late in coming. The Studios Monastery was occupied militarily,
Plato, Theodore and his brother Joseph (the Archbishop of Thessalonica) were
arrested, condemned and exiled. In 808, the Emperor convoked another Synod
which met in January 809. This was the
one Theodore defined “moechosynodus”
the “Synod of Adultery” in a letter of 809 to the monk Arsenius (Epist. I.
n.38, PG 99, coll. 1041-1042). The Synod of Bishops recognized the legitimacy
of Constantine’s second marriage, confirmed the rehabilitation of hegumen Joseph and anathematized Theodore, Plato and his brother Joseph who was
deposed from the office as Archbishop of
Thessalonica.

In
order to justify the Emperor’s divorce, the Synod used the principle of the
“economy of saints” (tolerance in praxis). However, for Theodore there was no
motivation that could justify the transgression of a Divine Law. By referring
to the teachings of St. Basil, St. Gregory of
Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom
he declared the discipline of the “economy of saints”, according to which a
lesser evil could be tolerated in some circumstances, devoid of any scriptural
basis – as in this case of the Emperor’s adulterous marriage.

Some
years later the Emperor Nikephoros died in the war against the Bulgarians (July
25th 811) and another imperial functionary ascended to the throne -
Michael I. The new basileus, called Theodore back from exile and he became the
Emperor’s chief adviser. However the peace didn’t last long. In the summer of 813, the Bulgarians inflicted
a very severe defeat on Michael I at Adrianople and the army proclaimed Leo V,
the Armenian (775-820), the Emperor.

When
Leo deposed the Patriarch Nikephoros and had the veneration of images
condemned, Theodore took on the leadership of resistance against the iconoclasm.
Indeed, Theodore is distinguished in the history of the Church, not only as the
opponent of the “Synod of Adultery” but also as one of the great defenders of
sacred images during the second phase of the iconoclasm.

So
on Palm Sunday of 815, it was possible to witness a procession of a thousand
monks of Studios, inside their monastery – but very much in view – carrying the
sacred icons to the solemn acclamation chants in their honour.

The
monks’ procession triggered off a reaction from the police.

Between
815 and 821, Theodore was whipped, imprisoned and exiled to various places in
Asia Minor. Finally he was able to return to Constantinople, but not to his own
monastery. He then settled with his
monks on the other side of the Bosphorus, at Prinkipo, where he died on
November 11th 826.

The
“non licet” (Mat. 14, 3-11) that St.
John the Baptist set against the tetrarch Herod for his adultery, has resounded
a number of times in the history of the Church. St. Theodore Studite, a simple religious who
dared challenge the imperial power and the ecclesiastical hierarchy of his
time, can be considered one of the heavenly protectors of those, even today, who, faced with the threats in changing
Catholic practices on marriage, have the courage to repeat an inflexible non licet.